Along an assembly line, various types of articles, such as for example, diapers and other absorbent articles, may be assembled by adding components to and/or otherwise modifying an advancing, continuous web of material. For example, in some processes, advancing webs of material are combined with other advancing webs of material. In other examples, individual components created from advancing webs of material are combined with advancing webs of material, which in turn, are then combined with other advancing webs of material. In some cases, individual components created from advancing web or webs are combined with other individual components created from other advancing web or webs. Webs of material and component parts used to manufacture diapers may include: backsheets, topsheets, leg cuffs, waist bands, absorbent core components, front and/or back ears, fastening components, and various types of elastic webs and components such as leg elastics, barrier leg cuff elastics, stretch side panels, and waist elastics. Once the desired component parts are assembled, the advancing web(s) and component parts are subjected to a final knife cut to separate the web(s) into discrete diapers or other absorbent articles.
Some diaper pant embodiments are configured with a chassis connected with front and back elastic belts, wherein opposing end regions of the front and back belts are connected with each other at side seams. In some instances, the elasticity of the front and back belts is removed in regions where the chassis connects with the belts. Thus, in some converting configurations adapted to assemble such diaper pants, stretched elastic strands are glued between two continuous nonwoven webs to form an elastic laminate. Regions of the elastic strands may then be intermittently deactivated along the length of the elastic laminate by cutting the elastic strands. Subsequent to deactivating the elastic strands, the elastic laminate may be subjected to additional handling and converting operations.
In some instances, the diaper pants include front and back elastic belts are configured with shaped or contoured inner edges that extend along the leg openings of the diaper. Thus, in some converting configurations adapted to assemble such diaper pants, stretched elastic strands are glued between two continuous nonwoven webs to form an elastic laminate. The elastic laminate may then be cut along the machine direction in a sinusoidal or curved path to form continuous lengths of the front and back elastic belts, which are then subjected to additional handling and converting operations.
However, cutting elastic laminate in a curved path may weaken the laminate, making the laminate relatively more likely to tear, and/or may otherwise result in control and handling difficulties associated with differential stretch characteristics within the laminate. In addition, such shaping of the front and back elastic belts relatively early in the assembly process may also require relatively precise phasing and registration processes in order to ensure that the shaped areas of the belts are positioned in the desired locations of the assembled product. Consequently, it would be beneficial to provide methods and apparatuses that are configured to provide a shaped belts relatively late in the assembly process so as to minimize the handling of the shaped elastic laminates; and/or assemble the elastic laminate in such a way to maximize the aesthetic appearance of the laminate when placed in an assembled product.